Tormenting Lila (3 page)

Alex greeted Amber warmly, hugging her tightly, then turned to Jack, his expression switching to inscrutable.

‘What are you doing here?’ he asked, in what I had come to recognise as his friendly interrogator voice.

Jack shrugged, flopping down onto the bed. ‘Figured mum and dad needed some time together just the two of them and that maybe I should check in on my little sister.’ He flashed me
his most winning smile. ‘Make sure she was OK.’

‘Right,’ I said, holding my arms out to the sides. ‘Well, as you can see I’m fine. Absolutely one hundred percent perfect in fact. Or I was, until you showed up. So you
can leave now, fully assured of my health and general OK-ness.’

‘But we just got here,’ Jack said, eyeing the room and bouncing up and down on the mattress, testing its firmness. ‘May as well stay now.’

A lightning bolt of panic shot through me. Was he suggesting he was going to be sharing our room? There was only one bed. I was absolutely no way making room in it for him.

‘You’ve got to be kidding?’ I hissed.

Alex’s hand quickly found my shoulder and applied gentle pressure, whether in warning or to placate me I couldn’t tell.

‘Nantucket’s a dangerous place. I just want to keep an eye on you,’ Jack said, getting up from the bed and walking over to the window.

‘Nantucket? Dangerous? What are you talking about?’ I spluttered. ‘We’re on a tiny island in the Atlantic. It’s the least dangerous place probably in the whole
entire world. Though the murder count may increase by one very shortly.’

Jack turned to face me, smiling smugly. ‘I can’t die, remember?’

‘That’s just a theory,’ I shot back. ‘I’m happy to put it to the test.’

Alex was standing to one side, his mouth pursed in a sign I knew now to be bemusement. He usually chose to stand aside at times like these and let Jack and I battle it out on our own.

‘A girl got murdered here,’ Jack said quietly.

I opened my mouth then shut it again.

‘When?’ Alex asked.

‘Last year,’ Jack mumbled.

I rolled my eyes. ‘You made it sound like there was a serial killer on the loose.’ I moved quickly to the door and held it wide open, hoping he would take the hint. ‘Jack, I
don’t need looking after or checking up on. Alex is with me and he’s a
marine.
And he has a
gun.
And hmmm, let me see . . . oh yeah, I’m fully capable of LOOKING
AFTER MYSELF. A fact you seem hell bent on ignoring. In case you had forgotten,’ I almost yelled, ‘I managed to rescue you and Mum from a heavily-guarded Marine base—’ Jack
scoffed loudly and began perusing the room service menu. I raised my voice even louder. ‘I took on a mafia boss
and
his henchmen—’

Jack looked up, an eyebrow arched. ‘Henchmen? What are we? Living in a Marvel comic?’

I gritted my teeth ‘
And
I faced down Richard Stirling
and I blew up an entire building—
’

‘
And
you got shot.’ Jack interrupted. ‘
And I
saved your LIFE.’

I rolled my eyes heavenward. He was never going to let it lie. I took a deep breath and tried to rein in my irritation.

I turned to Amber who looked hideously pained. ‘Sorry,’ she mouthed at me.

‘So they only had one room spare,’ Jack went on, as though the conversation we’d just had had never happened. ‘It’s a twin. You and Amber can have that one and
I’ll share this one with Alex.’

‘No way!’ I shouted.

‘Or Alex can share with Amber?’ Jack suggested.

A vase wobbled violently on the desk. Alex moved swiftly to still it. ‘OK, OK, look let’s figure it out later,’ he said, firing me another warning glare. ‘Let’s all
go for dinner and we can discuss it there.’ What he meant was that we should discuss it somewhere public where it was less likely I could do any damage. He was showing a huge amount of trust
in me, given my track record.

I cast around for something to throw, to help me let off some steam while we were still in private, but there was only the mini-bar. So I turned to Jack and shoved him instead. He staggered
backwards as though buffeted by a tornado and fell flat on the bed, his arms windmilling.

Amber laughed. Alex put his arm around me. ‘Come on, let’s go,’ he murmured, steering me towards the door.

By the time we finished dinner I was feeling slightly less annoyed, in fact I was feeling suspiciously buoyant and happy. I glanced in Amber’s direction. She could
manipulate moods and I could tell by the way she avoided looking at me and the blush that seeped across her cheeks that it was her and not a spiked glass of soda that was behind my altered
mindset.

I wondered if I could get her to do something about Jack’s. A few times I caught him glancing unhappily at Alex’s arm resting on the back of my chair and my hand resting on
Alex’s knee. It had been two months, when was he going to get over it? Mum had told me to go easy on him, that his over-protectiveness stemmed from the fact he blamed himself for what had
happened to her and had, as a result, taken it upon himself to make sure nothing bad ever happened to me. I got that. Totally. And I loved Jack, I really did. I even loved his protective streak.
But it didn’t stop me hating him right now. Between him and Suki and Nate always spying on me, it felt like there wasn’t a place in the world where Alex and I could go for some
privacy.

Nantucket town’s main street was lined with historic houses, most converted into shops and restaurants and upmarket hotels. The flyer for the gig that we’d taken
from the bike store gave us directions to an ancient-looking inn (by American standards) called The Ship.

Jack and Amber walked in ahead of us but Alex tugged me back, pulling me into the shadows by the door.

‘Sorry we aren’t going to get to spend time together tonight,’ he murmured, wrapping his arms around me.

I banged my head against his chest. ‘Me too,’ I mumbled.

His lips pressed against my ear. ‘Don’t worry, for your eighteenth I’m taking you somewhere more secure than a CIA safe-house. No one will find us. Not even Nate.’

I smiled, butterflies already dancing in my stomach at the thought.

Alex’s hand came under my chin and he tilted up my head so he could kiss me. Our lips touched at the same time as a giggle erupted from the bushes beside us. We broke apart.

There was a rustling, some hissed mutters, and then a shriek, which sounded unsettlingly familiar.

‘Suki?’ I half-whispered, peering into the gloom.

‘No,’ the bush answered.

I stared at Alex then back at the bush.

‘Suki, we know it’s you, you may as well come out,’ Alex said.

‘What are you doing here?’ I demanded as Suki emerged from the bush like a butterfly trying to fight its way free from a cocoon, swatting at branches and picking leaves from her
hair.

From behind her, a skinny boy with a huge afro materialised. ‘Nate?’ I cried.

I don’t know why I was so surprised to see Nate too. He and Suki were joined at the hip. And she was his beard, after all.

Suki smoothed out her dress and tottered towards us on huge platform heels. Nate followed behind, flashing us all his teeth in a grin that looked as if it had been tortured into place.

‘Aren’t you supposed to be in Atlanta?’ I asked, though my scowl was already starting to crack from the happiness of seeing them both. I hadn’t realised how much
I’d missed them.

‘Well, um,’ Suki said, ‘Nate just happened to fly past just as you were getting on the ferry to come here.’

I heard Alex smothering a laugh beside me and I gave up pretending to be mad. I threw myself on top of them, hugging them fiercely.

‘You just
happened
to fly past?’ I asked, letting them go.

‘Uh-huh,’ Nate squeaked.

‘And then we thought we would come and surprise you,’ Suki said, fluttering her spider-leg lashes in Alex’s direction.

‘Hi,’ Nate said, waving at Alex.

Suki suddenly looked around. ‘Where’s Jack? I swear I heard him.’

‘He’s inside,’ Alex said.

‘Where are you staying?’ I asked them but they had already turned and were making eagerly for the door. ‘Well, we figured we could bunk in with you in that huge four-poster
bed,’ Suki said over her shoulder. I looked at Alex. I had been right. Nate
had
been spying on us after all, how else did they know about the four-poster bed?

‘But maybe Jack would like some snuggle-time,’ Suki said, her face lighting up at the thought.

Jack and Amber were racking up the balls on the pool table as we threaded our way over to them. They both did a double-take when they saw Suki and Nate steaming towards
them.

‘Well, if it isn’t Mr and Mrs Smith,’ said Jack, shaking his head in wry amusement.

‘We found them in the bushes,’ said Alex.

Suki hugged Amber while Nate stood happily mute before Jack like a dog before its master.

‘It was all Nate’s idea,’ said Suki, brushing up to Jack and eyeing the baize. Suddenly she narrowed her eyes and cocked her head to one side. Jack frowned, his shoulders
tensing and his brow furrowing as though through an act of will alone he could stop her from reading his mind.

A furrow appeared between Suki’s eyebrows. She glanced at Amber then back at Jack, a knowing smile spreading across her face. ‘Give her time,’ she whispered, leaning in close
to Jack, ‘she’s warming to you. But stop taking your T-shirt off whenever she walks by. She knows you have a ripped body.’

Jack spluttered something and his cheeks burnt red. I wasn’t sure if Amber had heard or not but suddenly she got very busy chalking up the cue.

She tossed it to me. ‘Girls versus boys?’

‘Oh, yeah,’ I answered, eager to take on my brother in something he couldn’t beat me at.

‘No cheating though,’ Alex said, reaching for his own cue.

‘Suki, are you playing?’ I asked, but she and Nate were no longer paying attention. They were staring towards the bar, nudging each other in the ribs. I glanced past them and
wasn’t surprised to see the object of their attention was Jesse, the boy from the bike store who was standing talking to a girl with dark wavy hair. He was wearing scuffed-up jeans and a
T-shirt that clung to his body in a way that was making both Suki and Nate hyperventilate with excitement.

‘I see those two have found a new love interest,’ Alex murmured, suddenly behind me.

‘Well, you and Jack are off the menu,’ I said, wrapping my arm around him possessively. ‘They’re like heat-seeking missiles. They need to fix on a new target.’

‘Poor guy, someone should warn him.’

I laughed and strolled to the end of the table, ready to break. Alex took a step back and I felt his gaze on my butt as I bent over and took my shot. It distracted me enough that I hit the white
wide and the balls bounced off the baize in every direction but towards the holes. Cheating wasn’t in my nature . . . but there was no way I was letting Jack win. I subtly nudged a ball into
the end pocket. And then a second one for good measure just because I liked the
thunk
in
g
sound it made when it fell in.

When I straightened up Jack and Alex were both leaning on their cues staring at me with matching expressions of disbelief.

‘What?’ I asked, feigning innocence.

Jack turned to Amber. ‘Is she cheating?’ he demanded.

‘Of course not,’ Amber said, smiling sweetly at him, before turning to line up her own shot.

We won. Of course we won. And then we ceded the table to Jesse and his three friends. Nate and Suki hadn’t unglued their eyes from him, not that he seemed to notice that
he had collected two groupies. His focus was on the girl he was with, who seemed so flustered by his very nearness that she reminded me of how I’d been before Alex and I had got together.

I heard her introduce herself as Ren. She spoke with an English accent, which straightaway grabbed my attention. It seemed like eons ago that I’d been living in London – the memory
of those years was as faded and distorted now as an Instagram photo. Who knew that being mugged at knifepoint would turn out to be the best thing that ever happened to me? If that hadn’t
happened would I be standing here now? Would I be with Alex? Would I know anything at all about my mum? It didn’t bear thinking about. Sometimes the worst events paved the way for the
best.

I listened in idly to the conversation the group was having. The English girl was a nanny. The other three were locals. The object of Suki and Nate’s lust was called Jesse, the guy
we’d seen at the bike rental place earlier.

‘You’re nosier than Suki,’ Alex whispered in my ear as I watched the boy lean over the table and take a shot.

Nate sighed loudly at the sight.

‘Just so you know: he doesn’t like boys,’ said Suki in a theatrical whisper.

‘That’s what he thinks,’ Nate answered. ‘If he met
me .
. .’

‘He’d ask you who your super-cute, astonishingly-fashionable friend was.’

Nate elbowed Suki hard in the side and she yelped, making the boy start and miss his next shot.

Ten minutes later the band came on and we all stopped talking and moved closer to the stage. All except for Amber who couldn’t stand to be in confined places with too
many people – all those emotions flying about gave her a headache. She chose a corner away from the crowd and sat down.

I scanned the stage, wondering what kind of music the band were going to play, and it was only then that I noticed the guitarist was Jesse, which explained why Suki and Nate were now fighting
their way tooth and claw to the front of the mosh pit.

‘He said he didn’t play anymore,’ I shouted to Alex over the roar of the crowd, confused to see him up on stage. ‘That’s strange.’

I watched him pull the guitar strap over his head and start fingering some chords, at which point someone sighed loudly beside me. It was the girl, Ren, and I didn’t need to be Suki to
figure out what she was thinking. I grinned to myself and turned back to see Nikki of the panda eyes and smoky voice saunter on stage and take hold of the mike.

Beside me, Alex squeezed my hand and then the band started playing and I forgot all about everything, even how annoying Jack was and how many times Alex and I had been interrupted. They were
good. No, better than that. They were incredible and my earlier thought about Jesse belonging on the front of
Rolling Stone
magazine suddenly seemed more like a premonition. The whole
crowd went wild and I knew it was only a matter of seconds before Suki and Nate started throwing their underwear onto the stage.